Laura Lam, deputy director of the city's community planning and development department, said city staff focused the funds on four areas of the city's consolidated plan that need improvement: youth education and mentoring, homeownership, streetscape enhancements and business and job development.

"If you had two applications that scored the same across the board, however one of them was going to hit one of these focal points, they would rise above the other," Lam said.

Some organizations, including the Kalamazoo County Land Bank and Kalamazoo Valley Habitat for Humanity, were recommended for increased funding. The land bank is scheduled to receive $242,542 to rehabilitate vacant homes and Kalamazoo Valley Habitat for Humanity is recommended to receive $242,270 to help families buy homes.

Two programs are recommended to receive funding for the first time. Fair Food Matters plans to use a recommended $57,924 to provide scholarships to allow people with low incomes to participate in their Can-Do Kitchen Business Incubator, and the GFM Synergy Center plans to use $72,093 to help purchase a building that will house an outpatient substance abuse program, according to city staff.

Of the applications from 35 programs received, the Community Development Act Advisory Committee has not recommended 18 for funding. Five of those programs had received funding in 2012. The Kalamazoo City Commission has final authority to approve the allocations.

Kalamazoo Neighborhood Housing Services' Lease/Purchase Program will be the hardest hit. The program received $200,922 in funds last year and is not recommended for funding at all this year.

Matt Lager, KNHS executive director, said the 2012 allocation made up more than half of the program's budget.

"Ultimately every year there are more applications than there is funding for," Lager said.

Lager said his organization would have put four to six houses on the market with that money. KNHS had received that funding for two years and had put 11 otherwise abandoned properties on the market for people to rent and eventually purchase.

"As those properties sell, income will come back to us that we'll use for more lease purchases," Lager said.

Lager pointed out that despite the large cut, his organization was recommended to receive funds of about $75,000 for a deferred maintenance program. If awarded, those funds will help KNHS repair seven roofs, he said.

Lam said the young lease/purchase program was a pilot program that has potential to fill a gap in the community to help people become homeowners and that CDAAC will evalute it for future consideration.

"I think the sentiment from the committee is they're very interested in the program but it's too soon to know if the program is successful," Lam said.

Lam said CDAAC this year saw "a lot of good applications, a lot of strong organizations and fierce competition over too few resources."

"In this case I think it's a matter of having too many applications and not enough funding," Lam said.

Emily Monacelli is a government and taxes reporter for the Kalamazoo Gazette. Contact her at emonacel@mlive.com. Follow her on Twitter.